So I'm driving in to work yesterday and I get to the part of my commute where I take the right fork onto the I-240 bypass going into Asheville. This semi veers right in front of me discombobulating me long enough to where I'm beginning to head on to the left fork instead of the right. I make an instantaneous decision, ok, wait, let's make that "an instantaneous wrong decision" to yank the wheel right and try to make the turn on the shoulders of the road. I bebop around on grass for a few yards before striking a hole popping my right front tire. Great.
I pull onto the shoulder and begin the tire changing process, loosening lug nuts, jacking the pick-up, and lowering the spare from my undercarriage under my bed, all the while vehicles are screaming by me within a couple feet at the speed of sound. When I grabbed the spare which I haven't used in about 5 years, I could tell immediately it was flat.
I grab what I need to teach my classes, cross the bypass, stick my thumb out, and within 30 seconds get a ride to work. I tell everyone I know about my predicament hinting at the need for a ride back, but all I can get is a cigarette lighter air compressor to pump up the spare.
So that means hoofing it back the 5 miles or so, most of which wasn't bad at all. It was a beautiful day and I can handle a little walking. It was fine until I reached I-240. Let's just say it's not designed for people to walk it. In the wrong direction. Anywho, I reach my truck after an hour and 15 minutes or so of walking. I had picked up some Fix-a-Flat along the way, and the spare inflated without incident. I re-jack the truck, take off the lug nuts, and the goddamn wheel wouldn't come off. I kick it and whack it with the tire iron for about half an hour to no avail until a DOT truck pulled over and the driver pulled out a sledge to loosen the wheel. 5 minutes later I was on my way home. At least it didn't happen today when it's pouring rain!
Heavy Metal for Dummies
I'm picking up that many** of my readers haven't experienced the awesomeness of Heavy Metal and thus have been deprived of the joy of being cool. So this week's Tracks of the Week are 3 songs by Judas Priest. Think of it a Heavy Metal for Dummies. How can you go wrong? The first is The Rage, described by many brilliant music critics*** as the best song to listen to when you want to fight someone. You should probably take this to Thanksgiving Dinner with your family. The next is my favorite JP song, Fever. And lastly, You Got Another Thing Coming is one you're probably already familiar with.
*Not so excellent
**1 or 2 of my handful of pathetic fans****
***Jackson and me
****people whose lives must be so incredibly empty, they read ECV
Thursday, November 13, 2008
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5 comments:
I would have just given up on the car and left it for dead. Or, pretended I was "Jim Smith" and had AAA. They probably wouldn't have fallen for that, though.
I used to be the official flat tire changer in college. You'd think some of those guys would have a problem calling a chick for that. But, you know. Free beer.
As we've previously discussed, 'The Rage' is awesome, but the other two are duds dude.
Good thing it didn't happen this weekend. You guys get any snow on your side of the Smokys?
P@D: What and miss out on all the excellent tire changing?
rassles: Welcome to ECV. It's no Sometimes I Make Lists, but it's halfway decent some of the time. Free beer is always a good thing!
Jackson: And again you are right, and then wrong.
chris: Nothing on our side. I'm not concerned about snow, though. I used to live around the NY-Canadian border where we wouldn't even bother to zip up our jacket until it got below 0. A little snow is no big deal!
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